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CIOs Uncensored Videos

If you want your IT group to be thought of as a center of innovation for your organization, you've got to get the attention of business management. Internal marketing can help.

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It seems like an old -- and answered, mostly in the affirmative -- question. But according to an upcoming InformationWeek survey, fewer top execs get IT these days, not more.

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Ken Abendshien is CIO of Midwest Health Systems Data Center, a tech support organization that provides outsourced data center services to 27 small county hospitals and long-term care facilities in Kansas, and two in Nebraska. Some of those sites are really tiny -- treating one or two patients a day. And with those hospitals having even tinier IT budgets, Abendshien needs to stretch his resources very carefully.

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Accenture's chief scientist sees several IT trends emerging over the next 36 months that CIOs need to embrace. Hint: One leads to the CIO becoming the Chief Intelligence Officer. If you like the sound of that, read on.

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You'd think there'd be more female tech pros peeved about earning 10% less than their male counterparts. But interestingly, our new 2008 InformationWeek salary survey of 9,653 IT pros indicates that money matters more to men, while women are most concerned about the job's challenges and responsibilities.

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When was the last time you got a call from a headhunter? Have those calls cooled down lately? Think it's due to the weak economy, or do you think it's possible that you're just not that "hot" anymore?

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While I expected the current economy to crimp IT salaries, I didn't see this one coming. InformationWeek's annual U.S. IT Salary Survey showed a $2,000 dip in the median total pay. This marks the first median drop in our survey since the tech bubble burst. How does the data match your reality?

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Got a lot on your plate? How would you like to be the IT shop? While the common belief is that one-person IT departments are typically the stuff of start-ups and mom-and-pop businesses, that's not always the case.

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Money is always quick and easy bait to keep valued staff from leaving. But how do you retain -- or even attract -- key talent when budgets are tight?

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Weyerhaeuser's new CIO comes from within, proving some companies aren't afraid to put an in-house IT veteran in the top technology spot.

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How can CIOs control the end run around IT? They can't -- that's the lesson from a new CIO survey. Live with it, loosen up, and keep track of where IT dollars actually are going.

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It must be tough to run IT in a big bank these days, what with all the regulation and oversight going on. Logistics and shipping companies put a strain on IT systems. Google's CIO just left, perhaps for good reason. However, my nomination for the toughest CIO job is ...

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If your H-1B visa petition was among the 163,000 filed earlier this month, you've got about a 50/50 shot that your application was selected in the government's H-1B lottery the other day. Fifty-fifty odds look great if you're playing lotto. But they're not so hot when you're playing games with people's jobs.

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And he has a familiar-sounding set of priorities: cut costs and streamline business processes. He's also got to get to know a new CEO.

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Networking is an important ingredient in a CIO's stew of knowledge. The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium looks like a good place to indulge.

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By tapping an outsider for its open CIO slot, Cummins decides not to practice what it preaches -- or at least what its former CIO preached.

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Given everything that's going on right now -- talk of recession, the presidential election, the baseball season starting up -- it's a good time for tech chiefs to take stock and do a little (or maybe a lot of) housekeeping. Here are a few thoughts.

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Is there a new paradigm for business in the 21st century? The authors of a new book say yes, and CIOs will need to play a prominent role in it -- or they won't, to their detriment.

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The financial markets' newspaper of record seems to have taken notice of CIOs. Is it a sign that tech chiefs have finally arrived?

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Is the CIO an effective position to enlist in your company's mergers and acquisitions strategy? It makes sense, given that integration is one of the major challenges in an M&A move, particularly integration of the IT variety.

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It's a classic. An on-stage software exec confidently gestures toward the demo of newly "announced" software, expounding on its life-changing features before a packed audience. But the software doesn't really work yet; it isn't even shipping until next year. So is this demo an act of fraud? That's an interesting question in light of the lawsuit Waste Management has filed against SAP.

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The CIO must be the most surveyed profession on the planet. No wonder a new survey says CIOs are dissatisfied with their jobs -- they're tired of being surveyed.

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Why should CIOs pay close attention to this particular Microsoft product (as opposed to the myriad others you support in your organization)? Because it's viral (meaning its use is probably growing in your company, whether you know it or not), and it needs to be managed closely to get the most of out it.

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If your company is looking for ways to squeeze more out of IT these days (and who isn't), server virtualization is one of the moves some organizations are making to find savings. Just ask Kent Kushar, CIO at wine maker E&J Gallo.

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It's part of a CIO's job to keep things positive in the IT organization. How are your IT colleagues holding up under the pressure of economic uncertainty?

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Has the (possibility of) recession affected your company's IT hiring plans? Because a lot of organizations say that that will be the first thing to go.

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Set aside the emotions engendered by Nicholas Carr's writings. The author of the infamous "Does IT Matter?" spoke at Search Engine Strategies in New York this week and raised a number of cogent issues that should be keeping IT managers and CIOs awake at night.

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... CIOs should listen. Google's CIO Douglas Merrill gave a (brief) interview to The Wall Street Journal earlier this week. Plenty of IT people picked up on it. If you haven't read it, you need to.

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Do you spend on IT or pull back during tough economic times? It partly depends what you're spending that money on. Here are the views of a software company CEO, and the CIO of a world-famous company, on that topic.

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IT people tend to be a pretty optimistic bunch. So it's discouraging to see that 58% of IT pros in our recent survey say the economy is in a recession or headed toward one.

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When a large company tries to convince partnering companies to invest in a common technology platform, it's rarely a walk in the park. One example of this is Wal-Mart's slow-going RFID initiative. Now Coca-Cola faces this challenge in an initiative to get 300 bottlers worldwide standardized on SAP's service-oriented architecture.

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He's Ahmed Mahmoud, and he comes to the chipmaker from the IT shop at Dell, which has had its share of high-profile IT alumni.

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Our just-published original research gives a glimpse into clients' satisfaction with their India-based IT outsourcers, and it's a key part of an in-depth package on "What's Next For India." Here are just a few data points that note strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for India's IT outsourcers.

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The décor in the executive wing at Coca-Cola's headquarters -- Ming vases, mahogany furniture, plush carpets -- could have been lifted straight out of 1886, the year Coke was born. No question, Coke is a company steeped in tradition. But equally important for Coke is continued innovation, and that's where CIO Jean-Michel Arès and his team are helping out.

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No, not that turmoil. CIO turmoil. A couple of financial heavyweights get new top tech execs.

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The Wall Street Journal had an article yesterday about corporations funding high-school curricula, particularly in accounting, engineering, and science. Bravo, I say. Not only that, CIOs should make a point of getting involved in these kinds of activities: teaching -- or at least visiting -- high school classes.

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Some folks predict the volume of H-1B visas petitions employers file starting April 1 will be lighter than last year. But that's not because demand is waning for foreign tech talent. Rather, companies are being more selective in the kind of talent they're seeking, given the odds aren't good they'll have their visa applications approved.

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Do you have an interesting innovation story to tell? We're looking for great case histories to feature as part of a new online project we're developing -- and you could win a free lunch with management guru C.K. Prahalad in the bargain.

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Get your engines running! It's almost time for the H-1B visa race to begin! The U.S. government starts accepting petitions on April 1 for the 85,000 visas allotted annually, and if history repeats itself, those visas will run out in a flash. So make sure all your T's are crossed and I's are dotted on those forms now.

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A new survey says there's been considerable turnover among federal CIOs and that more of them are reporting to CFOs than did just a year ago -- a lot more. Sound familiar? It should, because the same thing appears to be happening with CIOs in the private sector. What goes around comes around, I guess. But what, exactly, is going around?

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Economic uncertainty is something of a mixed blessing when it comes to IT, says Frank Modruson, the CIO of consulting firm Accenture. It can be a challenge, and it can be an opportunity.

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As recession looms, fingers are pointing to software as a service as a viable, fiscally responsible option for upgrading application portfolios. Is recession-driven SaaS another notable turning point for technology?

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IT budgets and tech staffs were clobbered during the recession of the early 2000s. But how would they survive this time around? Hasn't most of the "fat" already been slashed, or has much of it returned?

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How heavy-handed can a new CIO be? Just because an IT organization is in need of change, that doesn't mean those changes can happen easily -- or at all.

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Many companies in the United States complain about an IT talent shortage. Indian IT companies face brutal competition for talent, and one big part of their answer is huge hire-and-train efforts. There's something for U.S. companies to learn here.

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How many CIOs does it take to screw in a light bulb? That age-old philosophical question's not as easy to answer as you might think. Here are several responses to our CIO Joke contest.

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"Don't be evil" is the search giant's mantra, but its operative phrase is "Get r' done." CIOs should take a lesson from the tech chief at the Cleveland Clinic and look for ways to work with innovative companies like Google to drive their organizations' agendas.

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Barack Obama plans to unveil his IT strategy, which will include making the job of federal chief technology officer a Cabinet-level position. He also wants to mandate open government meetings streamed over broadband and favors net neutrality.

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Here's an update to Wipro's U.S. hiring plans, which we first reported last August when the Indian IT services company was acquiring U.S.-based data center operator Infocrossing. It has at least two new U.S. operations open and two on the drawing boards that, while far from a hiring flood, suggest a subtle strategic difference from other Indian IT services companies.

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Indian outsourcers are inking some deals that tie their pay to performance -– usually to some operations yardstick such as uptime, but in the more innovative cases, to some business measurement. One CIO talks of tying outsourcer pay to the same measurement that his bonus is. Here are a few examples I've picked up the last two weeks here in India.

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